Lawbeat: From Sampson advocating a shield to advocating a hit list?

Updated 10:30 am, Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Of all the charges in the federal case against former state Senate conference leader John Sampson, the most jaw-dropping is that the Brooklyn Democrat reputedly wanted a list of witnesses so he could "take them out."

Sampson once introduced a bill to create a $5 million state Witness Protection Fund, similar to the witness protection program used by the federal government to relocate witnesses.

The Times Union noted Sampson's bill in a 2008 story about the effort to keep witnesses safe in a culture of "no-snitching" in the Capital Region, specifically Albany.

In a justification for the bill, Sampson bemoaned that since 1980 19 witnesses preparing to testify in New York City had been slain, 14 were killed across the state and "hundreds of other witnesses to crimes have been threatened, harassed or intimidated into silence because they cannot be protected from criminals."

Now he's not only a defendant, but one who allegedly threatened to retaliate against the same people he vowed to protect — witnesses.

Court papers allege that in 2006, Sampson asked a real estate developer — identified as Edul Ahmad — for a $188,500 loan. When Ahmad was later charged, Sampson allegedly contacted a mole in the office of Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch to get a list of would-be witnesses against Ahmad so he could "take them out," the indictment stated.

Sampson, who surrendered to federal prosecutors on May 6, is charged with embezzlement, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the FBI. He last introduced his witness protection bill in 2012.

Graffeo honored

Associate Judge Victoria Graffeo of the Court of Appeals was recently honored in Manhattan with the 48th annual Charles A. Rapallo Award.

Rapallo was the first Italian-American elected to the Court of Appeals — he was one of the first seven judges to serve on the court after the Constitutional Conventions of 1867 and 1868. Rapallo served from July 4, 1870 until his death on Dec. 28, 1887.

Graffeo, who grew up in Guilderland, in 2000 became the first Italian-American woman to serve on the state's highest court.

Mayo — who in addition to working some of the biggest cases in the capital city was elected in 2004 to the Albany County Legislature, in which he represents District 20 — will officially call it a career June 4.